The youth provisional detention centers, known as Gaviotas, in zone 13 of the capital, and Gorriones, in San Juan Sacatepéquez, will be progressively closed starting next November. Minors in conflict with the law, as indicated by the authorities, will be transferred to the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home, San José Pinula.
On March 23, 2023, two minors died in a confrontation in Gaviotas. The events appear in a list of fights that also left people injured and facilities damaged.
The disturbances in that center provoke constant inspections by the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office (PDH), in response to complaints of alleged mistreatment by monitors once morest adolescents and abuses reported by visitors, such as humiliation while they are searched so that they do not illegal objects enter.
On December 12, 2016, a National Civil Police agent and eight teenagers were injured in Gorriones during a confrontation between two groups of minors.
Bad conditions
“It will be closed, because it is a model that does not work to achieve reintegration in adolescents; In addition, the facilities are not suitable for having residents. Some are galleys, others are dark, unventilated bartolinas. “Definitely, this has to end,” said Verónica Galicia, judge for the Execution of Children and Adolescents.
The adolescents will be transferred to the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home, whose facilities were remodeled by the United States Embassy and the Guatemalan Army, following the fire that occurred in March 2017, where 41 minors died.
Galicia stated that it is not just regarding transferring them so that they have better conditions, but that a rehabilitation model used in Missouri, USA, will be implemented, in which young people are not guarded by armed guards nor are they placed in shackles.
Hair to taste
In Missouri corrections, according to Galicia, the teams are made up of technicians, social workers and psychologists. “The facilities—in the United States—are comfortable shelters and are characterized by the fact that prisoners are involved in activities all day, they receive classes daily, they have therapies and sports activities. The model even allows them to have their hair cut to the teenager’s taste, while in Gaviotas they are hairless or shaved,” Galicia commented.
The judge indicated that part of this American model is already implemented in Casa Intermedia, a correctional facility located in San José Pinula.
The judge explained that, with Gorriones, the main problem is that it was the country house of former president Jorge Ubico and, because it is considered cultural heritage, remodeling is not allowed, so its facilities do not adjust to the new model that is wanted. implement.
“The decisions that were made are understandable. Adolescents deserve to be cared for in the best possible way, to achieve social reintegration,” said Galicia.
He added that the facilities of both correctional facilities do not register overcrowding, since they are verified every month.
He also maintained that the involvement of minors in conflict with criminal law decreased considerably, arguing that crime prevention programs “work and should be replicated throughout the country.”
Progressive transfer
The Undersecretary of Social Welfare in charge of reintegration, Carlos Menchú, stated that the transfer of the Gaviotas minors to the Safe Home will be “progressive” and will begin in November of this year, since it will be done in phases, so as not to affect the programs. of reintegration.
Gaviotas, according to Menchú, will become a museum, although he did not specify what type, while Gorriones will be a training center for the staff of the Ministry of Social Welfare (SBS).
He added that they are trying to ensure that detention centers for youth are certified by international organizations and that Guatemala is among the few nations well qualified in the reintegration of minors.
According to the project that was presented by the previous government, the new Safe Home facilities will have workshops, classrooms, a multipurpose area, a chapel, a dining room and sports areas.
When consulting through Social Communication of the SBS regarding the number of minors in charge of that agency, it was reported that there are around 1,800, of whom, for security reasons, exact data is not provided.
“In Gaviota alone, according to Galicia, there are an estimated 180 minors,” it was indicated. The crimes for which the most minors are referred are robbery and extortion, according to the spokesperson for the National Civil Police, Edwin Monroy.
“They commit common assaults on public roads. In the case of extortion, they leave phones and then collect the money,” Monroy said.
Dark past
Seven years following the tragedy at the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home, eight people face justice for the death of 41 girls on March 8, 2017.
The oral and public debate began on January 10 in the Seventh Criminal Sentencing Court, led by Judge Íngrid Vanessa Cifuentes.
Before the start of the debate, the judge rejected an appeal for reconsideration presented by the defense of Anahí Keller, one of those named and who served as undersecretary.
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